New run-game models, faster broadcast graphics and a Super Bowl stats telecast show how far the NFL's tracking data now reaches into play calls and living rooms.
Every snap of the 2026 NFL season produces a stream of coordinates that most fans never see. NFL Next Gen Stats turns those coordinates into the numbers coaches study on Monday and the graphics you see on Thursday night. This season the league added models that label run schemes and blocking assignments, rebuilt its route recognition and pushed some stats to air by the first replay. ESPN will also give Next Gen Stats its own Super Bowl telecast in February. The data now touches play calls, rule changes and the broadcast in front of you.
The system starts with hardware. According to the NFL’s operations site, each stadium has 20 to 30 ultra-wideband receivers, and each player wears two or three RFID tags in his shoulder pads. Tags also sit on officials, pylons, the chains and inside the ball, for an estimated 250 devices per game. Three operators work each game to keep the system running.
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